How to pop the hood with broken release cable?

Hi All

Today when setting the Parking brake, my foot snagged the trunk release cable. The cable came loose from trunk release handle in the cab, and appears to be bound up somewhere in linkage.

Now the hood is closed and I have no access to romoving the cable to replace. Or free it from where it's bound.

The cable is still in tact, but doesn't seem to work when I pull the release. I yanked pretty hard using a claw hammer and a scrap of wood no luck.

Thanks for any pointers.

Matt

 

Great question, and I had to know the answer. Unfortunately, I can't claim credit:

If the cable broke right at the release handle, you might be able to get some pliers on it and pull firmly, opening the hood. Then you're temporary fix can just be a small vice-grip type plier left in place. I bought a used car that came that way. If the cable or hardware under the hood broke, you'll have to locate and operate the release catches manually. The releases are on each side, typically slightly inboard of or behind the headlights. Each one has a spring lever which is pulled towards the center of the car by the cable. You can reach these levers with a screwdriver or piece of coat hanger, and trigger them manually. Each one has a loop about 1/2" round at the end that has to be pushed or pulled, letting the hood pin spring pop the hood up an inch or so. If you're having trouble finding them, it helps to be able to look at another car with the hood up. Try a bone yard, a friends car, or maybe a picture in a manual. http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi/hoodcable.htm

 

How about squeezing it with a pair of pliers or something and pulling?

 

The simple trick for poping the hood for auto extrication oi smashing the grill out with a crow bar, grabbing the wire with the fork, and giving it a twist. This can be done on some models that have large grill openings without the smashy-smashy part if you are lucky.

 

I got it fixed last night and I thought I'd share in case it happens to anyone else.

I used some a 10mm socket with a universal and took of the latch cover plate (2 bolts) off. It's a pain but if you are patient you can do that through the grill. From there you could see the wire and it was lodged in an odd place past the latch. I took a long screw driver and pushed it up so it could freely move again. After that it worked fine; I reassembled the pull in the cab, popped the hood.

If the cable was broken I think the only way to get open is to take the whole latch assembly off, which is 3 more bolts, and lowest one would be a pain to get too.

I suspect how what happened is that it popped the first time, the return spring pulled the cable back hard enough to cause the end under the hood to shoot past it's normal landing place and jam further back in.

 

Thank you , your info helped me out of a jam,,, I left the shroud off so if it happens again I can fix it easier next time,,, thanks again